São Paulo FC is Brazilian Champion of 2007
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007São Paulo FC won the Brazilian championship of football in 2007.
São Paulo finished with 77 points, a 15 point lead - the largest ever - over the runner up, Santos (see final ranking of Brazil Championship 2007). Four rounds before the end, São Paulo was already champion.
CBF, the Brazilian Confederation, acknowledged São Paulo as the first team to be five-times national champion. The decision caused some controversy, because Flamengo, the most popular club in Brazil, claims to have been champion in five occasions; however, in 1987, Flamengo won the First Division and refused (with support of all major teams, including São Paulo) to go for a play-off against the winner of Second Division.
Above, photo of the team lined up for the last match of the Championship, against Botafoto, on November 27th (photo from the official São Paulo website). This site lists the names of all players of São Paulo in 2007.
Corinthians, the most popular team in the State of São Paulo, was demoted to the Second Division in 2008.